


bleeding hearts (cry all the same)

by WithYourRhythm



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Day 6, F/F, First Meetings, Gen, Good!Akatsuki, Grief/Mourning, Missing-Nin, Missing-Nin!Karin, Past Character Death, Role Reversal, SakuKarin Week 2018, Sharingan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 10:03:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16741927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithYourRhythm/pseuds/WithYourRhythm
Summary: She can't just leave it at there. Ever since Danzo used Ino's defeated state to put a seal on her, turn her into aliving bomb, she can't trust a random act of kindness, even though this woman is a friend of Naruto. Not when her wife is still dead after six years.





	bleeding hearts (cry all the same)

**Author's Note:**

> _SakuKarin Week 2018, Day 6: **** ** ~~Uzushio~~** / Missing-Nin_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> This AU has so much potential... I wonder if I can find time to create a long fic out of this one-shot.
> 
> Well, who knows? Maybe I can.

It's dark, Sakura realizes. It's so dark, and she can't even see her own hands, right in front of her face. All she can see is a deep void, just nothing.

 

Except, that’s not true. She can see a tomoe, no, three of them. All in a red, bright pupil, and this is…

 

 _Sharingan_ , her mind whispers.

 

Her eye hurts. Her breath stutters, and Sasuke is there, he's trying to reach her, he's trying to protect her-!

 

He's dead, in an instant, shielding her and Naruto.

 

But… but he's not _there_. This is not happening right now, this is just a memory.

 

She sucks in a breath, and wakes up.

 

\--

 

“You've been sleeping for four days,” her savior says in a calm voice, “I didn't think you'd survive.”

 

Sakura takes a sip from the cup, soup tasting warm and nice on her tongue, “How am I still alive?” She's not stupid. Her mentor was one of the legendary sannin, the greatest healer to ever live.

 

Or, that was true till she died and Sakura took over her projects. Now, she carries that name instead of her master and even though it's a heavy burden, she tries her best to live up the name. She can't let her dead mentor’s efforts go to a waste.

 

(Not teacher, a master. The teacher title belongs to another person, not dead but gone either way. Sakura misses them both dearly.)

 

(She misses a lot of people these days.)

 

She knows her injuries were bad. There was no way she could survive.

 

Yet, here she is, taking what a shinobi - _a missing-nin_ , she corrects herself- gives to her without even checking if it's poisoned or not.

 

But- but this woman said her name was Karin. Sakura trusts Naruto with her life, so she won't ask this girl where she comes from. And if she dies because of that-

 

She won't die.

 

“I healed you.” The red-haired woman looks over her shoulder while cooking fishes on the campfire, strands of blood-red hair spilling over her face from the hood of her robes. She looks like one of the wild female warriors, coming from the deepest part of the earth to kill those harming to innocent people, from the stories her mom told Sakura before she went to sleep.

 

Sakura wants to touch her hair.

 

“How?” She lifts her head and watches the woman as she goes back to cooking, staring at the back of her head hard. “I had a hole in my stomach with three broken ribs, one had fractured one of my lungs, and there was probably a concussion in that list as well. I was _dying_. It was medically impossible for me to stay alive.” She rubbed her eyepatch, “How did you save me?”

 

A clang echoes around the cave when the red-haired woman puts the iron plate down with too much strength hidden beneath the movement, a seething anger burning in her chakra, and Sakura tries to keep her muscles loose, stop herself from lunging to her feet and punching the wall to crash the cave over her savior's head. The danger in the stranger's chakra alerts her senses, she knows that she's in danger.

 

_What were you thinking, Naruto?_

 

Then, as fast as the rage shows up, it disappears, leaving its place to an old, tired sensation. The woman's chakra feels _exhausted._  Her shoulders slump, she keeps her head bowed over the fire. “Does it really  matter? I saved you, just be grateful.”

 

“No,” She can't just leave it at there. Ever since Danzo used Ino's defeated state to put a seal on her, turn her into a _living bomb,_  she can't trust a random act of kindness, even though this woman is a friend of Naruto. Not when her wife is still dead after six years.

 

(Kakashi-sensei promised a world with nothing but love and her precious people, but why all she can see is blood and hurt? Why she keeps _losing,_ why is he _gone_? He was going to save this world, save _Obito,_  where is he now?)

 

“Tell me.”

 

(Is Obito being alive is enough for him to leave her all alone in this war _he started_ , with Sasuke gone for good, and Naruto in a slumber he might never wake up? Where is her _teacher?_ )

 

The missing-nin sighs, standing up and turning towards Sakura. She walks towards her, then passes beside her, not stopping till she’s beside the entrance of the cave. As she watches the rain spilling all over the forest, there's an old hurt all over her chakra, and she feels _empty_ in a way Sakura hadn't seen ever since Naruto fell into his slumber, still grieving for his lover.

 

(Sai's suicide mission hit everybody hard after Sasuke's death, but Naruto was completely crushed, so _gone_ … Sometimes, Sakura wished that he would never wake up and see the world without Sai in it, because that was too cruel for that pure hearted, loving soul. Naruto was too good for this world.)

 

“That's my secret to keep.” Her voice sounds as empty as her chakra is, in a way.

 

“Who are you?” Sakura has to learn something, she needs to know what's going on, so she can turn this war to their favor. With everybody gone, she's the only one who can do it. “How did you find me? And what about the Konoha nin that attacked me, did you see him?”

 

Her savior stays quiet for a while, listening the sound of rain and fire, mixed with their breathing. Then-

 

“I got a message,” She turns her head towards Sakura, a look made of steel resting on her face, “A man, with the power of lightning in his hands, the last breath of dead on his lips, shining white as if he took a piece of the moon with himself wherever he went. He had the blessing of wolves, the forest. He told me to follow the sound of screams till I found a pink haired fighter.”

 

Sakura froze, “What-”

 

The missing-nin kept going, taking a step towards her, “He was trapped in another dimension, but he knew someone from my own blood, waiting to be saved. And you- you are the only one who is skillful enough to save him.” She snarled. “That's why I saved you!”

 

A silence surrounds the cave, and Sakura tries to breathe, because-

 

Because, her teacher is alive, her only remaining family is _alive,_ and he's waiting for her to save him so they can get Naruto back and save this world from the doom that awaits it. He is alive, and trapped-!

 

“Breathe!” Strong but gentle hands catch her face, bringing her head a little closer to the fire, but it's not fire, it's the beautiful red hair she wanted to touch ever since she woke up, and that warrior is resting her forehead against Sakura's, grounding her, “Breathe with me, you can't lose your control right now! Come on-”

 

Sakura takes a deep breath, and the deep relief that spreads in her chest catches her off guard. She feels blood dripping from her cheek, Sasuke's eye crying for her even when she can't cry for herself, and that’s a relief too.

 

(Sasuke is alive. He's with her and Naruto, the legacy he left behind will stay alive with his soul, always there with them, and as much as her heart aches, she’s _glad_.)

 

“You're okay, you're with me, I'll help you to find him and save him, you're not alone…”

 

As the woman- as _Karin_ rocks her forth and back, she believes that it'll be alright. Maybe not right now, not tomorrow either, but one day it will, and that's enough for her.

 

(Maybe she won't miss her precious people anymore.)

 

(And maybe, she can have another precious person now. With the way Akatsuki and the shinobi villages fight against her family, bonds are hard to get, and harder to keep for her.)

 

(But Karin looks like she knows how to fight anyway.)


End file.
